Flood Control: Finance

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department has spent on flood defences in each of the last five years.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 6 November 2008
	DEFRA provides funding to operating authorities for flood defences from the allocation of funding for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management. Over the past five financial years this allocation totalled:
	
		
			  Financial year  DEFRA funding (£ million) 
			 2007-08 502.7 
			 2006-07 505.2 
			 2005-06 514.8 
			 2004-05 415.8 
			 2003-04 135.5

Lighting

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of light bulbs used in his Department are energy-saving models.

Huw Irranca-Davies: holding answer 5 November 2008
	 The Department is continually improving the energy saving measures employed within its departmental buildings. Across the Department's London offices it is estimated that in excess of 95 per cent. of lighting is of an energy saving design. In our principal office locations in York and Alnwick, all internal office lighting is of an energy saving design. As to the wider provincial offices the exact percentage of energy saving lighting is unknown.

Wetlands: Flood Control

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent work his Department has undertaken on the role of wetlands in flood defence.

Jane Kennedy: DEFRA and the Environment Agency operate a joint R and D programme. Within this programme various studies have been made of the role of land management, including wetlands, on flood risk management. Most notably my Department published the finding of a major review of the impacts of rural land use and management on flood generation in November 2004. Subsequently further work was commissioned on the analysis of historical data sets to look for the impacts of land use and management change on flood generation. The final report will be published in the near future. The Environment Agency takes into account the role that washlands or wetlands may play in flood management when it is considering specific flood management problems.

Africa: International Assistance

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Africa Investment Climate Facility.

Ivan Lewis: The Investment Climate Facility (ICF) is a novel partnership between private companies, development partners and governments to improve the investment climate in African countries. An independent review of ICF will be conducted in 2009.
	The Department for International Development (DFID) has closely followed the development of the organisation through the Technical Advisory Committee and Annual Meetings. DFID has also seconded a senior official to work in the ICF Secretariat. ICF has quickly become effective in building up its project portfolio. The Board has approved 20 projects but it is too early to assess effectiveness fully. Recently, the ICF published their first Project Completion Report. The project created a productive dialogue between businesses, the East African Community and customs authorities in East Africa. Many of the project's recommendations for customs reforms have been implemented, leading to significant reductions in delays and costs to businesses in importing and exporting goods.

Bangladesh: Overseas Aid

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to improve the competitiveness of businesses in Bangladesh.

Michael Foster: The UK Government are providing £20 million to the Bangladesh Investment Climate Facility (BICF) to assist the government's Regulatory Reforms Commission and Better Business Forum, to improve this business environment and reduce costs. For example, there has recently been a 50 per cent. reduction to the costs of registering a business due to BICF inputs. We are also working with the government of Bangladesh and the World Bank to help set up large economic zones that will provide businesses with cheaper access to land serviced with a constant supply of utilities such as electricity.
	In the export sector, Bangladesh needs to remain competitive with other producers in the Asia region. Therefore, the UK has been promoting social compliance standards, like health and safety concerns in the garments sector, to enable Bangladesh businesses to meet the standards required by U.S. and European buyers.
	Finally, the UK is providing £11.8 million to Katalyst (Phase I), an organisation whose purpose is to increase the competitiveness of local micro, small, and medium enterprises in key urban and rural sectors in Bangladesh. By 2009, the Katalyst project will have contributed to the creation of 180,000 jobs through its work on making 800,000 farms and businesses more competitive. By 2015, Phase 2 of the project is projected to benefit 1.2 million enterprises and commercial farms—employing three million people in 26 sectors.

Cambodia

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the public financial management reform programme in Cambodia.

Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) participates annually in the joint government-donor review of the public financial management reform programme, with the most recent taking place in May 2008. Issues relating to public financial management also form part of the IMF's Article IV consultations and are a central feature of policy dialogue with budget support donors. These require regular reporting from Government and ongoing monitoring by development partners, including DFID.
	Since 2005, reform of public financial management has already delivered significant improvements in terms of revenue management and budget credibility. Tax revenues continue to grow, with a 37 per cent. increase during the first three-quarters of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007; revenue out-turn up to September 2008 is 99 per cent. of budget forecast (compared to 85 per cent. in 2007); and Government have spent 72 per cent. of their budget in the first three-quarters of 2008 (compared to 62 per cent. in 2007). In December, the Government will launch a second phase of the programme. This will build on these successes and provide additional focus to financial management in line ministries. It will also address outstanding issues from the first phase, including the integration of recurrent and capital budgets and strengthen the links between planning, budgeting and expenditure.